Marchetti



Sept. 10, 1963- A. MARCHETTI 3,103,421

CARRYING TRAYS FOR PRODUCTS'TO BE DRIED IN AIR DRYERS Filed Sept. 9, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR 41190312 JWWMP/f/ I WQJM ATTORNEY Sept. 10, 1963 A. MARCHETTI CARRYING TRAYS FOR PRODUCTS TO BEDRIED IN AIR DRYERS 2 Sheet -Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 9, 1958 Fig 6.

iiilllll! INVENTOR Marcie/19' Qjzz ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,103,421 CARRYLJG TRAYS FGR lRODUCTS TO BE DRIED IN AIR DRYERS I Augusto Marchetti, Milan, Italy, 'assignor to Gebruder Buhler, Uzwil, Switzerland, a firm of Switzerland Filed Sept. 9, 1958, ger. No. 759,932

Claims priority, application ltaly Sept. 12, 1957 1 Claim. (Cl. 34-238) In certain dryers using warm blown air, the products to be dried are carried on moving trays and the air is blown through the products for absorbing the humidity contained therein.

Usually, the trays consist of a wooden frame with a bottom made of metallic netting or perforated plate through which the drying air passes.

The product cannot be disposed in relatively high layers on such trays because if its thickness is high, it is diflicult to obtain a uniform resistance to the passage of air. The drying is therefore irregular, resulting in zones which are too dry and zones, which are too humid.

The object of this invention is to provide a tray which can be loaded with a much greater thickness of product than has been possible with the trays used hitherto. At the same time a very uniform drying effect is obtained.

The tray according to the invention is characterized by a plurality of inclined parallel walls disposed above the bottomwall supporting the products.

In a further embodiment of the invention, the bottom wall is made movable for discharging gradually the dried material from each of the cells into which the tray is subdivided by the inclined walls[ The drawings show several embodiments of the invention:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal section through a tray according to the invention.

FIG. 2 is a plane view thereof.

FIGS. 3 and 4, 5 and 6, 7 and 8 show corresponding views of three further embodiments of the invention.

The tray represented in FIGS. 1 and 2 has a wooden rectangular frame 1 and a bottom or bottom wall 2 made of metallic netting. Furthermore, there is a plurality of walls 3 made of a thin material, e.g. aluminium plate. These walls 3 are inclined at about 40 relatively to the bottom wall 2 and their respective ends are held together by two sideboards 4. As a variant, said inclined walls could be fixed directly to the frame 1. The product to be dried, e.g. twisted alimentary paste is placed in the cells defined bythe walls 3 and its height is greater than has been hitherto possible. The air is guided by the walls 3 and the drying eifect is very uniform although the quantity of product is much larger.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 3 and 4 the air-permeable bottom wall of the tray is not made of a continuous net ting of metallic wire but consists in a plurality of panels 5 of perfonated aluminium plate, or other similar ma- 3,193,421 Patented Sept. 10, 1963 ice paste may fall in a convenient vessel or onto a conveyor (not represented).

In the embodiment of FIGS. 5 and 6, the walls 3 and the panels 5 are replaced by bent walls 6 which. are pivotably mounted on the sideboards 4. As soon as these walls 6 are no more sustained by the guides they are pivoted by gravity into the position 6' represented in dotted lines and the dried alimentary paste may fall. Each member 6 consists of a normally inclined wall and a normally horizontal panel connected to the latters lower edge.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 7 and 8 the frame 1 is provided with a perforated bottom wall 2 which is fixed to it. One side of frame 1 is open and the element formed by the walls 3 and the side-boards 4 may be displaced along the bottom wall 2 of the tray. On leaving the dryer, the element formed by the walls 3 and the sideboards 4 may be displaced relatively to the frame by effecting different pushes on the two elements or by holding back the frame -1. The alimentary pastes may fall because they are no more sustained by the bottom wall 2.

I claim:

A movable tray for supponting a product to be dried in an air dryer comprising, in combination: a frame; a bottom in said frame, means for positioning said bot-tom in a first position in a substantially horizontal plane to support in said frame the product to be dried and in a second position in a substantially vertical plane to discharge. the product from said frame; and a plurality of parallel walls disposed above and inclined with respect to said bottom, said bottom and said means for positioning said bottom consisting of a plurality of air permeable panels, one for each of said walls and each pivotally connected to the respective wall, each panel normally assuming by gravity said second position in a substantially vertical plane to discharge the product and is pivoted in said frame by said positioning means into said first position in a substantially horizontal plane to support the product. 1

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,149,948 Rand Aug. 10, 1915 1,284,218 Benjamin Nov. 12, 1918 FOREIGN PATENTS 48 l,l17 Germany Aug. 14, 1929 

